Titanic A Promise Kept
by Austin Gates
Summary: After having major coping issues with the fact that Jack dies I exerted all of my energy into this story Titanic A Promise Kept. Jack reunites with Rose. Soon, they realize that their love isn't flawless and they overcome obstacles in the name of love
1. A Promise Kept

Chapter 1 – A Promise Kept

Rose kissed his hands and watched him fall into the blackness of the water. The coldness of the water cut at his face. Rose fell into the ocean and swam to the dead officers. She pulled the frozen whistle from his mouth and blew it over and over and over. The flashlight shined on her and she began to swim away from the wooden door, towards the lifeboat. They met her half way and pulled her in, covering her quickly with a thick blanket.

As the boat sailed away, Jack kicked the final kick that brought him back to the surface of the water. He felt the cold against his face and somehow managed to kick back up. He grabbed the wooden door. He barely had the strength to get onto the door, but after a few shallow breaths, he managed to hoist himself onto it. Rose was gone. He laid there, taking shallow breaths. How he held his breath underwater that long amazed him. He couldn't even think without a lot of effort.

_The boats_ he thought. _I have to get to the boats._ He took a few more breaths. Rose was on one of the boats and he needed to get to her. He knew it. He heard the whistle. And he wasn't going to give up yet. Jack turned around and laid on his stomach. He pulled himself along the water, rowing with his arms towards the boats. The cold air stung. It almost felt better inside the water.

Back on the lifeboat, Rose was covered and was slowly getting warmer. She felt so raw. She had been forced to leave her love, dead in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Her eyelids felt so heavy. The last thing she saw before falling asleep was a shooting star fly overhead. While she slept, she dreamed of Jack. They were on a boat deck at sunset.

"Teach me how to ride like a man," she told him.

"And chew tobacco like a man," he continued in a fake, but charming Southern twang.

"And…_spit_ like a man," she laughed.

"What, they didn't teach you that in finishing school?" he asked.

"No!" she replied incredulously. As she lay asleep on the lifeboat, she rolled over onto her side and burrowed herself into the side of the boat.

Meanwhile, Jack continued to row into the darkness, closer and closer to the lights. He heard voices from the boats.

"Does anyone know what ship is coming?", "Is there a ship coming?", or "When are we being rescued?" rang throughout the sea. Jack couldn't even think about what was being said. He just focused on rowing. He told himself to push just a little further. Just a little further. Those boats ensured life. He finally began to close in on a lifeboat.

"What's that sound?" someone in the boat asked, looking in the darkness. An officer in the boat shined a flashlight in Jack's direction.

"Help me!" he said, barely audible. A woman screamed, causing the lights from the nearby boats to shine in their direction.

"Good God!" exclaimed the officer. "Row toward him, men!" They rowed closer to jack, whose skin looked as white as the iceberg he had seen hours before and he was trembling. "Pull him in lads," yelled the officer. "Regina," he said to a nurse, "Can you help him?" She nodded with hesitation. They pulled him into the boat and he fell in, his head almost hitting the edge. They covered Jack quickly in a heavy blanket and sat him on the floor next to the nurse. Jack looked at all of the terrified faces staring at him.

"Mr. Dawson?" asked a familiar voice. Jack turned his almost lifeless head to see him.

"It's good to see you got off safely, Mr. Ismay," Jack responded with biting sarcasm. Bruce Ismay turned his head toward the ocean. He laid his head in the nurse's lap. He had gotten a spot on the boat. There was no arrangement that would benefit him, and Jack still managed to gain that seat on the boat.

"It's okay," the nurse said, running her gloved fingers through his icy hair. "You're okay now." Jack felt his ears get warmer and fell asleep quickly, hoping he would wake up.


	2. Carpathia's Rescue

Chapter 2 – Carpathia's Rescue

Rose opened her eyes and saw the side of a ship. _It was all a dream_ she thought. _Thank God. I need to find Jack and tell him about this dream._ Then she saw the bright white lettering across the ship that read** CARPATHIA**. She sat up slightly and looked around to see the twenty or so lifeboats floating nearby. Suddenly, she realized where she was. Her stomach dropped and she felt nauseous. The whole thing really did happen. She abandoned her mother and the ship sank, and Jack died, right next to her. She felt the biggest disappointment.

The boat rowed closer to Carpathia. She saw the crew standing above her, hooking the boats into the pulleys. One by one, Rose witnessed the boats pulled up and the passengers unloaded. Finally her boat was pulled up and as she climbed out and onto the deck, she felt the weight of the previous night. Her legs gave way from the physical toll the fight for her life had taken. She stepped onto the deck and fell into the arms of a nurse who led her to the upper decks where she was slowly walked through a crowd of Titanic's survivors looking for loved ones. A purser from Carpathia forced a warm drink into her hands and gave her a new blanket to cover up with. Finally, Rose found a small park bench sitting on Carpathia's deck and sat down in a daze.

She sat there and began to think for the first time about everything that had happened. She recounted the events of the night, step by step to see what went wrong. And then it hit her. Hard. She was so worried about saving both Jack and herself, but it could've been so much easier. She was offered not only one, but two lifeboats. And she turned both of them down. Why did she do that? She could've stayed on one and Jack would've had an opportunity to find another one or even to stay alive on the door. Jack died saving her. And if she just took care of herself and gotten on those boats, Jack probably would've lived. An awful wave of guilt swept over her and she began to cry.

And then she remembered her dream, and everything they had planned to do together. She was so excited to go and be with Jack and live her life with him. Just minutes before the crash, she told him she was going with him. And in a matter of hours, all of that was ripped away from her. She felt so disappointed and let down by fate's cruel turn of events. Suddenly, she remembered her tour the morning before, and got so angry. Mr. Ismay had raved over how unsinkable and extraordinary the ship was. And Mr. Andrews told her that "it's all the lifeboats you need." Their stupidity ripped Jack away from her. And Captain Smith's words as he received an iceberg warning: "Not to worry," he said, "Quite normal for this time of year," and he dismissed it. Now look where they were: Fifteen hundred short, with their ship and belongings sitting two and a half miles under them at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. And he said "Not to worry."

As she sat on the bench, more boats unloaded its passengers. Rose heard a large commotion as a boat full of men, along with some women, came around the corner. Women from the crow began to shout names out into the group of men and women, just praying for a response. The crowd slowly got quieter as a man in a deep red bath robe came on board. Rose saw him – Bruce Ismay. She remembered him raving about the unsinkable ship. Her face turned red with rage. She walked toward him heatedly.

"Mr. Ismay!" she shouted, breaking the eerie silence. Everyone looked at her. "Unsinkable?" she yelled with fury, "Unsinkable?" He looked at her dumbly. She was searching for words, but found none. Instead her hand flew into the air and slapped him hard across the face. "You're just like all the rest. You think you're giants. Wake up! The world isn't your playground you disgusting excuse for a man," she said before turning quickly and proceeding to a deck filled with third class survivors.

When Ismay boarded the Carpathia and was directed to the right, the nurse took Jack immediately to the left where a stretcher was waiting. He was still asleep and had to be carried from the lifeboat on board the ship. She hurriedly rushed him to the doctor's quarters on D Deck. The doctor took him right away and removed the icy, wet clothes and laid a sheet, comforter, and heavy quilt on top of his naked body. "Nurse," the doctor said, "Collect the following medicines from the cabinets. His immune system is weakened and I want to ward off any other sicknesses." Regina followed his orders and went to the cabinets to fish for the medicines. Jack slowly began to wake up and his body warmed up. The weight of the layers on top of him made his muscles feel weak and he decided not to even try to move his arms. The nurse came back with the medicines just as another officer walked into the room. "Sir, we need you up on the boat deck. A woman just slipped and we think her arm may be broken," he said. The doctor looked at Jack.

"I'll take care of him," Regina told the doctor. "Go ahead," she continued. The doctor nodded and took off outside the door. Jack opened his eyes and saw Regina. Her flowing blonde hair reminded him of Rose's curly hair. "Hello, my name is Regina. I'm going to take care of you," she said sweetly.

"Where am I?" he asked looking around.

"You're on the Carpathia. We pulled you from the water, but you're safe now." Jack looked into her eyes and saw trust. He nodded.

"Thank you,"

"What's your name?" she asked. "The man in the boat called you Dawson."

"Jack Dawson. That's my name," he said labouredly. "I need to get out of here. I need to find Rose," he said and pushed with strength to get out from the blankets. He tried to move his legs, but they felt so heavy and comfortable as they got warmer. Regina pushed him along his collar bone back onto the bed.

"I don't know who Rose is, but first things first. If you go out there, you'll probably die. You need to stay here for at least a few more hours and take some medicines before you go out there."

"No, you don't understand—."

"Mr. Dawson, I don't care," she said firmly. "You're staying in here and I'm not letting you out whether you like it or not." Jack had finally found someone with a stronger will than his own. He laid back down and let his body sink into the bed. He thought of Rose and how she thought he was dead. He felt a strong feeling of remorse for her and then he noticed something.

"Hey! Where are my pants?"


	3. Serenity

Chapter 3 – Serenity

Rose watched as Cal's heels clicked on the deck behind her. Her heart raced, hoping she wouldn't be caught. His dark brown eyes looked around and seemed to be searing holes right through Rose. A chill went up her spine. She heard him walk slowly back up the staircase and took a deep, calming breath.

"S'cuse me, ma'am," said an officer. Rose jumped, still on edge from seeing Cal. "I'm sorry, ma'am. May I have your name, love?" he said. "We need it so we can start assigning people staterooms." She looked up at him from her seat on the park bench where she sat herself down hours before.

"Dawson," she said. "Rose Dawson."

"Thank you. I'll have one of our stewards escort you to your stateroom," he finished before going to another person on deck.

Rose spotted a blonde boy with the most striking blue eyes come towards her. "Hello, Ms. Dawson," he said smiling, "My name is Christopher Matthews. I'll be your steward for your stay on Carpathia. Would you like to go to your stateroom?" he asked. Rose nodded. She had been outside since the night before and wanted to get inside where the air was warmer and she might have a little more privacy. "Right this way," he said. "I hope you don't mind sharing your stateroom with another woman. As you can tell, we aren't really large enough to accommodate our own passengers as well as the survivors, but we'll try to do the best we can." Rose just nodded as he talked. She didn't even feel like talking to anyone. She just wanted to be with Jack. She felt this surge of anger just resting deep inside of her chest just waiting to explode. But she remained collected as she followed Christopher.

"Right here we are," he said walking past the door labeled "Hospital". He opened the door next to it and showed Rose her room. It was far unlike anything she had stayed in on the Titanic. There were two beds, made up with a sheet as well as a quilt and one pillow. A sink stood in between the two. The walls were painted a dark red, but the paint was chipping away slowly on the ceiling. There was no window. "If you need anything, I'll be walking around the floor," he instructed as he stepped out of the room.

Rose felt shorthanded. This new life didn't seem nearly as fun without Jack. But she knew she had to live it now. There was no turning back. She made a promise and she intended to keep it. At the same time, her loss made her so angry. She dropped the blanket she had been wrapped in around her and fell onto the bed to her right. A surge of fury came up and she screamed loudly into the pillow and punched the wall next to her bed. As she lay there, she fell asleep crying.

On the other side of the wall, Jake woke up to a loud bang next to him. _Why are these people so loud and rude?_ he thought. Jack was feeling much better just within a few short hours. He looked at the clock. It was one o'clock in the afternoon. "Regina," he called out to the nurse. She entered the room from the doctor's quarters, "May I please get out of bed now?" She looked at him remorsefully. "Mr. Dawson, I understand that there's a woman out there who thinks you're dead. And I know how much you must want to find her—."

"No you don't understand!" he yelled at her. Regina looked hurt.

"Do you think I didn't lose anyone? Huh Jack? Do you think you're the only one hurt by this?" Jack looked dumbfounded. He had never thought that Regina would've lost her friends. She regained her composure. "My boyfriend Barrett worked in the hull shoveling coal into the boilers. My best friend Trudy was a maid, and I know she didn't make it either. And I know that it's hard to sit here while she's up there crying over your death, but be happy that you have someone up there." She turned around and began to go back to the doctor's quarters.

"I'm sorry," Jack said as she turned, "about Barrett that is." She turned backto face Jack.

"You can leave after dinner. I promise, even if I have to sneak you out of here. I want to meet this Rose girl."

"She's a woman," Jack said simply. Regina smiled and went back to the doctor's quarters. Jack laid in his bed, now dressed, and sat there thinking about what had happened. For the first time, he was forced to think about everything. Why was he alive? They told him several times in the past few hours how lucky he was to be alive. But why? Why not Fabrizio? Or Tommy? Or Barrett and Trudy? Why him and not them? _Come on Jack, _he thought, _you can't sit here and beat yourself up over this. Be happy to be alive. _Then he remembered his statement to Rose and called over to Regina.

"Regina, can you bring me a pad of paper and a pen? I have a strongly worded letter I need to write."

That night, Rose headed down to the cafeteria for dinner. She met Christopher there and he sat down next to her to eat. "So Ms. Dawson, how are you?"

"How good can I be?" she asked icily.

"Sorry, you just seem to be upset. I just want to help," he continued. His eyes looked trusting and true.

"I'm sorry," she said feeling guilty. "I just don't want to deal with this. It's too much to handle." She took a sip of her warm coffee.

"Have you ever heard of the serenity prayer?"

"The what?"

"The Serenity Prayer. My mother taught it to me as a young child. He looked into her eyes and recited the whole thing by memory:

_God grant me the serenity  
to accept the things I cannot change;   
courage to change the things I can;  
and wisdom to know the difference._

"That was beautiful," she told him. "Now wait, how does it go again?" she asked, determined to learn it by heart. After a ten minute lesson, Rose could recite it from memory.

"Well, I have to get back to my rounds. Good night Ms. Dawson."

"My name is Rose."

"Good night, Rose." Rose turned around and finished her meal, all the while saying the Serenity Prayer over and over in her head. After she had cleaned her plate from the beef stew, cornbread, and mashed potatoes, she walked out of the cafeteria and began heading aft towards the stern of the ship.

In the hospital, Jack had wolfed down a full plate of food and then took some more medicine. Regina entered the room with a large coat for Jack.

"Alright Jack, the doctor says you can go. But stay inside and come back here before you fall asleep to take your medicine. I want you to check in at ten o'clock. And please don't go running around too long. You have t conserve your energy."

"Yes ma'am. And thank you." Jack threw the coat on and moved outside into the corridor. He was going to find Rose. _It's still dinner. She'll be in the cafeteria._ He found a steward with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Excuse me sir, where's the cafeteria for third class passengers?" he asked. The stewards blue eyes seemed to Jack to be trusting and true as he smiled.

"Just head aft and go down a level and it'll be to your right," he said laying out Jack's route. Jack thanked him and started walking quickly towards the cafeteria. When he got there, he scanned the tops of the people's heads for that thick, fiery, curly hair. Only a sea of blondes and brunettes scattered the hall. He stepped back out and began just walking down hallways, looking anywhere, knowing he'd bump into Rose somewhere. After an hour of searching the forward decks and halls, he sat on a bench and put his head in his hands.

_You aren't supposed to be outside_ he reminded himself. _So what? You're here to find Rose. I think that's a little more important. Okay, if I was Rose, where would I go? I just lost a loved one and suffered tragedy, and I wanted to go somewhere I would go to…_ His head perked up. He knew where she was.

As Rose stood on the stern of the ship overlooking the black ocean she began to think. She wasn't going to jump this time. She made a promise to Jack. She was going to get off the ship in New York and begin a new life. She rested her arms on the railing and began to sing. Jack saw her from a distance and slowly began to walk towards her. Her hair had fallen across her back and she was singing. Jack slowly and quietly came up behind her and stood mere inches away from here.

She sang, "Come Josephine, my flying machine and it's up she goes—."

"Up she goes," Jack sang behind her. Rose turned around quickly and let out a blood curdling scream.

"Oh My GOD!" she screamed, louder even than the night she was hanging off the Titanic. She attacked him and began to sob uncontrollably as she jumped on him and gave him a huge hug.

_This can't be real_ she thought _This isn't real_. But she didn't care that it didn't make sense. All she knew is that Jack was standing right here kissing her and he wasn't dead. "Oh Rose," he said, beginning to cry with her, "I love you, Rose!" he exclaimed as he kissed her over and over again. Rose's stomach was leaping and she felt happier than she had ever felt in her entire life. She melted into his arms, thanking God, thinking to herself, _God grant me the serenity…_


	4. Confrontations and Explainations

Chapter 4

**A/N – Okay, I just was looking at other Titanic stories and noticed my plot line has been done before. I honestly had no idea anyone else thought for Jack to kick back to the surface. So from now on, I'll try to come up with different story lines to go with following this. Also, there's been a lot of thoughts and narration up to now, but now that our star crossed lovers are in fact reunited, there will be a lot more action and dialogue. I just had to establish everything first. Hope you enjoy!**

**K.D. Gates**

Rose was sobbing on Jack's shoulder, unable to believe what was happening. She half yelled – half cried to him, "How did you get here? I saw you sink! I saw you die!" She couldn't understand or even begin to try; she was too busy crying and she couldn't stop. She was the happiest girl alive.

"I kicked back up! I kicked back up!" yelled Jack, embracing her face in his hands. The emotions of the moment were strangely reminiscent of the night before when Rose jumped off the lifeboat back onto the doomed ship. They couldn't stop crying, Rose out of shock, and Jack out of happiness. Two sailors came running over to them.

"What was all that screaming about?" one asked. Rose looked at them and wiped away a few tears.

"I was leaning far over to see the uh...the uh…propellers and…" she stopped and burst out into laughter as Jack laughed and took her hand, sweeping her across the boat deck to the sign that read "Third Class Entrance."

Rose and Jack felt the warmness of the air gracefully touch their faces and stopped right inside the doorway. The laughter died down and Jack looked right into Rose's passionate eyes. "I love you, Rose" he said simply. He finally pronounced his love for her, something he almost lost the opportunity to do. "I love you," he repeated. Rose gently kissed him. Rose looked directly back into his eyes.

"When the ship docks, I'm getting off with you," she repeated again, as the sadistic humorous part of her mind thought _God, I hope I didn't just jinx the ship into hitting an iceberg._ Jack smiled and kissed her again. "Let's go. I want to go to the cafeteria and get some coffee." Rose smiled and led him back down to the cafeteria where they sat with two mugs of hot coffee. She didn't bother asking him what had happened to him the night before. He would tell her in due time.

"Rose," he said, "I want you to know that everything I promised you. The beaches in Santa Monica, riding the ferris wheel till we throw up, everything…we're gonna do it." She smiled at the thought. In twenty four hours, she had gained, then lost, and gained back her true love. She smiled as she thought of this. They sat there, not knowing what to say to each other. She finally brought up the wreck. "Did you hear anything about the others?" she asked. "Tommy? Fabrizio?" Jack looked down at his mug and shook his head.

"I don't know for sure, but I doubt they made it. I heard the doctor saying there should be a survivors list either tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Well, there's still a chance. We could get lucky," she said placing her hand on his.

"I hate to be the guy with the bad news, but I think we used up all of our luck. We both should've died about eight times in the past day."

"There's still hope. You never know," she replied. Jack coughed and suddenly was in a fit of coughs. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Well do you really expect me to not at least get sick?" Jack replied smiling.

"Maybe we should go back to the infirmary," she suggested. "They can give you something." Jack nodded.

"I hope you don't plan on taking care of me like this forever." Rose laughed.

"Oh no! You're on your own soon. I just felt bad," she replied playfully. As they walked through the corridors, hey were mostly silent. There was a lot to be said, but neither felt like talking much. Jack coughed quite a bit and even had to stop and catch his breath at one point. They turned a corner and came to the door of the hospital. Jack knocked and a shadow covered the marbled glass window. Regina opened the door. "Hi Jack," she greeted, moving aside to let them in. "And you must be Rose." She nodded as she followed Jack into the hospital. "Pleased to meet you Rose. My name is Regina." They shook hands.

"This is the woman who saved my life," said jack. "She took care of me." Rose looked at Regina and saw who she wanted to be. A simple girl. And although she couldn't bring herself to tears, she felt like she should have. She hugged Regina firmly.

"Thank you," she told her. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." There was a moment of silence when Rose broke her hug. "Jack, I'm going to have you take some medicine and then you need to rest. You've been outside long enough and you need to stay warm." She turned and went into the medicine pantry. Jack sat down on the bed he slept in earlier that day.

"Maybe I should go," Rose said. "I'll come back tomorrow morning." Rose went to Jack's side. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said before kissing her gently. "Good night, Rose." Rose turned towards the door as Regina entered the room again.

"Good night Regina," she said.

"G'night miss."

"Please don't call me that. I'm Rose. Just Rose," she corrected, closing the door behind her. She turned to the left and rounded a corner when she saw Cal just a few feet in front of her turned the other way. Her stomach jumped and she slammed herself back around the corner out of Cal's sight. She heard him coming down the hallway. Had he seen her? She didn't want to risk it. She saw a door slightly open and took her chance, flying through it, slamming and locking the door behind her. She put her back to the door and closed her eyes, regaining her wits.

"Rose?" she heard. She opened her eyes and saw Christopher. "What are you doin' in here?" he asked. Rose had locked herself in a crew supply room.

"I…I need to stay here for a little," she said. _Should I tell him about Cal? No, if you're going to get away with changing your life, you can't be telling everyone. But you can trust him. He can help you. _

"Well why would you need to stay in here?" he asked.

"I'm hiding."

"From?"

"My ex-fiancée. He's been following me," she explained panting.

"Stay here," he said moving her aside and unlocking the door. He stepped out and closed the door behind him. Rose locked it and put her ear to the door.

"S'cuse me sir. Do you need anything? You must be lost. You're too well dressed to be hanging around down here," she heard Christopher say.

"Don't you have some toilet bowl to be scrubbing?" Cal asked mockingly. Christopher grew stern.

"This area is for third class _only_. No first class passengers allowed. If I find you down here again, I'll report you to the captain and master at arms."

"Do you know who you're speaking to? You can't make me—"

"Ah, but I can," interrupted Christopher. "You're a passenger. I'm crew. Now get back up there – Mr. Hockley." Cal stomped past him and ascended up the white staircase. Christopher knocked on the storage room door. Rose let him in and he swept in and shut it behind him. "So can you explain to me," he said staring at her, "how a third class girl like you could once be Caledon Hockley's fiancée?" Rose sat down and began to tell her story. As she was winding down the events of the past few hours, Christopher's mind was full of questions. "So Jack lived?" he asked. She smiled and nodded. Christopher looked disappointed.

"Well Rose, if I were you, I'd keep my head down and stay low."

"Can you help us?" she asked.

"Of course. I'm always on this deck if you ever need me." She smiled and gave him a friendly hug.

"I better go to bed. Do you mind walking with me? Just in case…" she asked.

"No problem," he said. They charted as he escorted her back to her room where she fell into bed and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Rose woke up early and went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. After eating, she stepped out onto the boat deck and watched the ocean. The sun shone on her and the whole world seemed peaceful and brighter than the overcast grey feeling from the day before. The breeze brushed her face and she sighed heavily. The world was finally hers for the taking and the stars were her limit. Life had never seemed so excellent. After taking in this exhilarating morning air, Rose returned to D Deck where she saw Jack sleeping still. The clock read nine o'clock. She walked to his bedside and put her hand on his forehead and cheeks. He slowly opened up his eyes, looked at her, and smiled.

"Good morning," she said running her fingers through his hair.

"Good morning," he repeated hoarsely. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm very good. I woke up early and got breakfast. I hope you don't mind," she said pulling her hair back.

"Of course I don't. You look nice," responded Jack as he propped himself up against the wall. Rose was wearing a simple dress. It was a light blue that she tied off around the waist with a white scarf she found left in her room.

"Well thank you," she said. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better, I slept pretty well last night. You were in my dreams," he told her.

"Oh I was, was I?"

"Yup. We lived in a big house on the Wyoming prairie. The mountains and this big ranch was our back yard. You and I were sitting on our porch just watching the sun go down over the prairie. It was a lot warmer there," he said. They both laughed.

"Well Jack," she said in a fake Southern accent. "Looks like we be goin' to the open prairie. Raise some cattle and ride them horses." She laughed.

"Well at least you know what to expect," responded in that same Southern twang, laughing. Regina burst into the room.

"They made a survivors list!" she exclaimed, holding a piece of paper in her hand. There were three sheets of names. Jack Dawson was on the bottom of the first page, followed by Rose Dawson. Regina Galiardi was in the middle of page two. The three of them crowded around it, trying to find names. There was an eerie silence in the room, suddenly broken by Jack.

"They didn't make it," he said simply. Regina and Rose looked at each other.

"Why don't we go on a walk?" Rose suggested, trying to comfort him. Jack looked at Regina who nodded.

"Just as long as you wear a coat outside," she told them. Jack got out of bed and got dressed quickly. His arms and legs still ached from kicked all that way two nights before. Five minutes later, he joined Rose outside the door and they went right outside to the deck, holding hands.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Not really. Not much to talk about. I've had a lot of time to think and, in a way, I was expecting it. I mean, even _I _really shouldn't be here. I just got lucky." Rose didn't know how to respond.

"I saw Cal last night," she told him. "I ran, so I don't think he saw me, but either way it was scary."

"Where were you when you ran into him?" asked Jack, thankful for the shift of conversation.

"Right on D Deck. Which is what's weird because he shouldn't be wandering around on D Deck without a reason."

"Well, I doubt we really have to worry about it. As long as we keep our heads down until we dock in New York, I think we'll be okay. I surprised he even survived. He waited around so long trying to get you, there's no way he could've gotten on a boat."

"Well, maybe the same way you survived, Jack." He shivered at her words. Memories of that night that seemed so distant flooded his thoughts. He sat down on a bench and Rose sat next to him.

"Rose, I want to tell you what happened." Rose expected this would come, but not so soon. "If I don't tell someone soon, I'm going to explode. I just want to talk about it now and forget it." Rose nodded and squeezed his hand gently. "I told you I kicked back up. It's like, the minute my face hit the water, my brain freaked out and it took a while to realize what was happening. I heard whistling and kicking from above me, but I had to concentrate on not breathing and kicking. I remember the pressure getting to my ears and I kicked a little harder until finally, my face broke the surface and you were gone. I ended up jumping onto that door you were laying on and I kicked over to where I saw some lights. You know it was just so scary, being in the dark like that. There was no sound except me kicking in the water. And I had to –" He stopped.

"Go on Jack. It's okay." Rose said reassuringly.

"I had to – my face. My face was right on the surface, so every time I passed a body, their eyes just stared at me. And I had to move them out of the way. And I'll never forget that. I mean, just minutes before, they had been alive, and now I looked into their dead, frozen eyes. And it's just something I'll never forget. Eventually I got to a boat and they pulled me in. That's when I was in the hospital on this boat." Rose hugged Jack firmly and gave him a kiss.

"Jack, you are the strongest person I know. And what gets me the most is that you did all of that for me. Just to see me one more time." Jack smiled at her.

"And I don't regret it." They kissed again. "Well, can we just leave everything at that?" he asked. Jack rested his head on her shoulder.

"Yup," Rose said casually, trying to lighten the mood. They sat there for a while, staring out into the open ocean. Jack felt a huge blow to the side of his head that left him dizzy and his hair being pulled and he was thrown onto the deck floor. Rose was grabbed from behind and she was turned around to see Cal.

"Well, the little slut's with him again. How typical." Jack was getting up off the ground, trying to get things to stay in one place in his eyes.

"Get off me!" yelled Rose. "You're coming with me and you're going to like it. I don't want to hear another word." Rose kicked Cal in the shins and after a struggle, Ran back to Jack, holding onto his arm. People began to notice a commotion, so Cal didn't bother to lunge at them, but instead, talked with them.

"You thought you were clever, did you? But you didn't think I wouldn't notice _Rose_ Dawson right under Jack's name? Do you honestly think I'm an idiot? Oh no, I noticed right away. And I saw you last night too. But you had that vermin cabin boy save you. Well I don't see him anywhere now. I think he's a little preoccupied at the moment." Rose gave him a questioning look. Cal noticed no one was watching and took his opportunity. He lunged at Rose and grabbed her arm again pulling her towards her, but Jack was faster and pulled her back. Rose was getting sick of this game, and finally stood behind Jack, who finally spoke up.

"Okay, let's get a few things straight Cal. First of all, what made you think he could put your hands on _my_ fiancée?" Cal looked dumbstruck and stared at Rose. Rose thought the same thing Cal did. "Look at _me_ you filth," said Jack, bringing Cal's eyes back to his. "Two – I'm really getting sick of being paid off, arrested, punched, shot at, and hit just so you can marry Rose. You touch me again, I'll kill you. And that isn't a loose threat. So you can make this really easy for yourself and walk away now, or you can make it really hard. Your choice." Rose stepped out in front of him.

"No, I'll make it for him. After all, he's made enough choices for me. Here's what you're going to do. First, you're going to go back to the first class area and stay away from us. I don't want to have to see you again. You're going to tell my mother you never saw me and that I died on Titanic. I want you to let her know that I loved her very much and told you this before I left you on Titanic. When we dock in New York, you're going to take my mother and pay for her to get a nice home with a maid and you're going to do it generously. I know that's a word you don't necessarily understand, but nevertheless you're going to do it. Then after my mother is taken care of, you can leave us all alone and go and find another slave to intimidate into marriage and never remember us." Cal hated being told what to do.

"If I ever find you, you better watch out. I'll do it, but don't expect to ever come back to me. When you're poor and broken without a penny to your name, I don't want to see your face on my doorstep." Jack and Rose both nodded and Cal turned around and stalked away from them. Rose took a deep breath. Jack laughed and held her shoulders.

"Rose that was _amazing_. You were great." He kissed her as they both laughed, very similar to after they got away from the stewards trying to catch them in the cargo hold of Titanic.

"You were too. They way you threw what he said to you back in his face. So, what's this about your fiancée?"

"Oh yeah," said Jack. "I've been meaning to ask you something."


End file.
